Christmas is a time of festive rejoice, love, thankfulness and rejuvenation. It is a time where we should forget our troubles for one day and celebrate every positive in our lives – no matter how little that positive may be.
Maybe, once upon a time, Christmas was purely about it’s name’s sake – a mass to celebrate the birth of Christ and there are some who still celebrate it as such. But, long ago, the day became bestrewn with other traditions and proceedings that are synonymous with the date but which have little to do with it’s original intent. St Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) has little to do with Christ (and his birth) except to share an association with the Christian religion.
But broadening original intent is not necessarily a bad thing, though. The true message of what the day should be about outweighs all of it’s singular themes. The message goes beyond turkeys, trees, fairy-lights, carol singing, santa grottos and nativity plays. It’s really about giving and appreciating and love. Forget about your latest top-fashion £160 boots, your iPads, your phones, your game consoles and every other impersonal present that the newest generations have come to demand of their loved ones. Those kinds of gifts are for people that have lost the magic and meaning of Christmas and, quintessentially life - who don’t appreciate that there is more to the festival than keeping up with the newest trend, drinking to excess, stressing out about inconsequential details and bemoaning the shit TV schedule.
Christmas, in a more all-encompassing respect, is about giving back to the world – about showing appreciation for every good thing you have received throughout the year, no matter how trivial or shrouded by darkness that good may seem. It is a time to rejoice in being human and to demonstrate the best qualities of our species; love, generosity, humbleness, gratefulness and happiness. For one day in the year you should put aside your differences (in the name of whatever religious on non-religious reason you wish) and refrain from argument or ill word. For one day in the year give without expecting to receive in return. Gifts aren’t just a physical object – they can be something emotional, a labour, something sentimental, an intention or a promise... Just spending the time cooking a nice meal is a wonderful gift for those around the table. A homemade photo-frame carries a sentiment that no ‘bought’ one ever will. A letter listing every way a person makes your life better will have more impact and overall long-lasting worth than the scrap price of a Galaxy Tablet when the next model is released. A gift is something with thought and meaning – it has sentiment and emotion and reason and labour. A gift does not need to have practicability. If you cannot appreciate a handmade bookmark that someone has taken the time and care to design themselves, instead of buying you the latest TV box set must-have, then you need to step back and re-evaluate your values. If you have lost the ability to appreciate a gift from the heart rather than from the wallet then you do not deserve a gift at all. The opposite also stands; if you cannot give a gift from the heart then you should not give a gift at all. Nor should you receive.
Look at yourself right now. How did you celebrate Christmas (or any equivalent religious festival)? Did you moan about all the cooking you had to do or did you find a way to make it fun? Did you gripe about the same cheesy music or did you sing along (even if it’s only in your head) and think about the meaning behind the lyrics? Did you go out and buy what was trendy and looked good; or did you think really hard about what the person you were buying a gift for would actually like? Did you spend time with your friends or family – attempting to have fun and trying to get to know them better – or did you sit in front of the TV and watch the Christmas specials, regardless of how awful the channels were?
Did you give a few quid to the charity collector on the street so you didn’t look bad or did you buy a bunch of flowers and take it to a random cancer hospice yourself? Did you drop some change in a homeless person’s cup or did you bake/buy something and take it down to the soup kitchen? Did you stand in a long queue in a shop and bemoan about the busyness and slow service or did you smile at the other customers around you and approach the counter and thank them on their dedication and effort during such a stressful time?
